This invention relates to spray nozzles, particularly those for commercial and home use for directing a spray of liquid, usually water, onto human or synthetic hair.
Typically, hair spray nozzles are used to direct a spray of water under pressure onto hair coiled or wrapped around objects, for example, rollers, permanent wave rods, and hair curlers, placed close to or on a human head or a wig. The sprayed water is employed to wash, or rinse, or saturate the hair after it has been treated in some manner, for example, with chemical liquids, lotions, solutions and materials to dye, frost, tint, permanently wave or set the hair for desired effects.
Although a timely and thorough removal of chemical materials from all portions of the hair by saturation of and/or neutralization of the chemicals with water is critical for providing uniform or other desired shades, tints and effects, and for preventing split ends, undue drying and other damage to the hair, such cannot readily be accomplished with presently known hair spray nozzles. Such nozzles do not direct water at hair near the scalp and on the undersides and undersurfaces of hair curlers. Conventional nozzles usually only provide vertical perforations in a flat spray plate for directing a spray in only a single direction. Also, conventional spray plates are too large to fit between adjacent hair curlers on a human head prepared for receiving say, a permanent wave. Conventional nozzles therefore are held over the head, or over outer portions of hair curlers and only direct water at and only quickly saturate and neutralize chemicals on upper hair strand portions on upper portions of hair curlers, i.e., those portions which do not face the scalp. Lower hair strand portions near the scalp and on undersides and undersurfaces of hair curlers are not simultaneously or directly struck with clean water. These usually only receive indirect, chemical-carrying run-off water from upper hair strand portions, and chemicals on these lower hair portions are therefore not at all or only partially saturated and neutralized with water. The failure to quickly or thoroughly rinse, saturate, neutralize or remove all chemicals from lower hair strand portions often causes undesired variations in hair shading and effects.
In view of these and other shortcomings of conventional spray nozzles, it is an object of this invention to provide a spray nozzle which directs a spray of liquid such as water at substantially the entire body of an elongated object, for example, a cylindrical or substantially cylindrical object such as a permanent wave rod or hair curler.
Another object of this invention is to provide an aforementioned spray nozzle whose spray is capable of quickly removing all or substantially all chemical materials such as permanent wave solution from hair on a permanent wave rod or hair curler.
Another object of this invention is to provide an aforementioned spray nozzle that is capable of simultaneously directing a spray of liquid at hair on substantially the entire circumference of one or more hair curlers.
Another object of this invention is to provide an aforementioned spray nozzle having a channel formed of a top wall and fixed, substantially vertically depending side walls, each wall having perforations therein which direct a spray of liquid at substantially the entire body of an elongated object, for example a hair curler, axially positioned in the channel.
Another object of this invention is to provide an aforementioned spray nozzle which includes a plurality of channels, spaced from and parallel to each other.
These and other objects of this invention will be apparent as it is better understood from the description which follows, which, taken in conjunction with the drawings, discloses preferred embodiments thereof.